Twenty years ago, I signed up for a mortgage on my condo. I don’t remember which bank handled the loan. Ten years ago, I tried to refinance this mortgage, to a bank whose rates were much lower. Apparently,the mortgage had been sold and resold twice over the interim...

Twenty years ago, I signed up for a mortgage on my condo. I don’t remember which bank handled the loan. Ten years ago, I tried to refinance this mortgage, to a bank whose rates were much lower. Apparently,the mortgage had been sold and resold twice over the interim...

Perhaps this piece should be called “A Salute to Changing times.”Chie and I recently visited frinds in Maryland and North Carolina, states which I had not been to for many years.My memory of Baltimore was a group of identical row house, where I would never live for...

Two days ago, my wife and I found a woman’s purse left behind in a Yellow Cab. I wanted to turn it over to the driver, but the wife didn’t think that cab drivers were trustworthy. We decided to take it home, try to locate the owner and mail it to her. It was a small...

In the Senate and the House, rousing debate is now going on (or will be again when they return) on various aspects of bringing health care insurance into the 21st Century. One bitter difference involves bringing down costs. Democrats claim that substantial cost...

Call it a moniker, a sobriquet, a diminutive or whatever, in everyday use, people tend to shorten the names of friends or associates, whether for informality’s sake or just for the heck of it. As a word lover, I have always been intrigued by the fact that the...